Mark I. Singer is the Leonard W. Mayo Professor in Family and Child Welfare at the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, Case Western Reserve University. Deputy Director of the Begun Center at the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, and Professor of Psychiatry at the Medical School, Case Western Reserve University. He has over 45 years’ experience in the field of social services, including directing two adolescent psychiatric units. He has served as a consultant or advisor to the U.S. Department of Defense, the American Medical Association, the National Mental Health Association, and was a trustee of the Cuyahoga County Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services Board. Dr. Singer has lectured nationally and internationally on issues related drug addiction, mental illness and violence exposure, and has done workshops/presentations for law enforcement, corrections, school safety personnel, teachers and social workers. He is currently an investigator in a grant from the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services on substance use disorders and coexisting health/mental health disorders. Dr. Singer teaches in the Cleveland Police Academy and works with law enforcement to establish linkages between police officers and social services. He is currently a member of the Cuyahoga County Metropolitan Housing Authority Police Department and has regularly accompanied officers on patrol. In addition to the effects of exposure to violence, his research examines police legitimacy and police officers as first social responders.
Biosketch
Curriculum Vitae
Google Scholar
Why I Teach
I enjoy sharing my passion for the profession of social work and the numerous experiences I've had. There are few things more gratifying to me than seeing students engaged in class interactions, learning new concepts and enjoying the experience. Learning can be fun!
Why I Chose this Profession
My undergraduate degree was in philosophy. As I checked available employment, there were no positions for philosophers. I began working with adolescents in Brooklyn, N.Y. and then in the Cleveland area at Bellefaire as a child care worker. I realized that I wanted to be of help to adolescents and have dedicated much of my career to this ambition.
Teaching Information
Courses Taught
Research Information
Research Interests
- Youth violence
- Adolescent behavior problems
- Co-existing drug and mental disorders
- Community policing
Recent Funding
The Greater Cleveland Consortium for Youth Violence Prevention
Principal Investigator
NIH ‐ National Institute on Child Health and Development
$90,000
2011–2014
Grandmothers, Caregiving, Families, and Transitions
Co‐Investigator
(Carol Musil, Principal Investigator, School of Nursing, CWRU)
NIH‐National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR)
$2,312,801 (MSASS Funding: $21,500)
2006–2011
Police Assisted Referral
Principal Investigator
Partnership for a Safer Cleveland
$30,000
2012–2013
Publications
Recent Publications
Kobulsky, J. M., Minnes, S., Min, M. O., & Singer, M. I. (2016). Violence exposure and early substance use in high-risk adolescents. Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions, 16(1-2), 46-71.
Butcher, F., Kretschmar, J., Singer, M., & Flannery, D.J. (2015). Confirmatory factor analysis of the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children in an at-risk sample of youth. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research, 6(2), 251-268.
Kretschmar, J. M., Butcher, F., Flannery, D. J., & Singer, M. I. (2016). Diverting juvenile justice-involved youth with behavioral health issues from detention: Preliminary findings from Ohio’s Behavioral Health Juvenile Justice (BHJJ) Initiative. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 27(3), 302-325.
Singer MI, Flannery DJ, Kretschmar J, Bartholomew J (2015) Brief Report: A County-Wide Survey of Residents’ Violence Exposure. Journal of Psychiatry 18:199. doi: 10.4172/Psychiatry.1000199
Flannery, D.J., & Singer, M.I. (2014). The Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education at Case Western Reserve University. Research on Social Work Practice. 25 (2) 278-85.
Butcher, F., Kretschmar, J., Lin, Y., Flannery, D.J., & Singer, M.I. (2014). Analysis of the validity scales in the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children. Research on Social Work Practice, 24, 695-704.
Bartholomew, J., Singer, M., Gonzalez, A. & Walker, M. (2013). Police assisted referrals: Empowering law enforcement to be first social responders. Law Enforcement Executive Forum, 13(4), 38-49.
Editorials
Singer, M., Buckner, B. (2017, July 23). Back to the future with community policing in Cleveland. Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Flannery, D., Singer, M. (2016, March 28). Here’s how witnessing violence harms children’s mental health. The Conversation.
Flannery, D., Singer, M. (2014, December 23). Police are first social responders; let’s help them work with citizens. St. Louis Post.
Flannery, D. and Singer, M. (2012, March 4). Chardon school shooting shows us that lessons have been unlearned, the tragedy repeated. Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Presentations
Singer, M., Gonzalez, A. & Walker, M. (2013, June). Building trust to fight crime: Cleveland’s Police Assisted Referral Program. Presentation at the Addressing Violent Crime in the 21st Century Conference, U.S. Attorneys, U.S. Department of Justice, Columbia, South Carolina.
Education
Additional Information
Concentration
- Alcohol and Other Drugs of Abuse
- Mental Health
- Masters of Nonprofit Organizations